Online Ordering: What Changes About Your Week
It's Saturday morning. You've got three emails asking about wedding cake prices, two Instagram DMs with order questions, and a phone call from someone who wants to know if you can do a rush order for Tuesday. You're piping a buttercream border on a 9-inch round and your hands are covered. You can't answer any of them right now. By noon, you've lost one of those orders because the customer ordered from someone else. With BakeOnyx, you post your order form once. Customers fill it out themselves—cake size, flavor, filling, delivery date—and BakeOnyx calculates the price and shows them availability in real time. No email. No phone call. No guessing. The order lands in your dashboard, synced to your production schedule, with all the details you need to start baking. You price the rush Tuesday order while your hands are still in buttercream, from your iPad, in 45 seconds. That's what changes: You stop being a secretary on Saturday morning. You start being a baker.
How It Works
Build Your Order Form in 10 Minutes
You go to the Online Ordering section and click 'Create New Form.' BakeOnyx shows you a template with the fields most bakers use: cake size (6-inch, 8-inch, 10-inch), flavor (vanilla, chocolate, red velvet, lemon), filling (buttercream, ganache, fruit), and delivery date. You customize it to match your menu. If you offer 12 different buttercream colors, you add those as options. If you don't do rush orders, you set the earliest available date to 7 days out. You add your logo, choose your colors, and hit publish. The form goes live on a custom URL you can share on Instagram, email to customers, or embed on your website.
Link Your Recipes and Costs to the Form
You've already entered your recipes in BakeOnyx—vanilla cake, chocolate buttercream, ganache, fondant. Now you tell the form which recipe each option uses. When a customer selects '8-inch vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream and fondant,' BakeOnyx knows exactly which recipe costs to pull. You've already entered your ingredient costs—butter at $4.50/kg, eggs at $3.20/dozen, fondant at $12/kg. The form automatically calculates the ingredient cost for that specific cake: $8.47. You add your labor rate ($15/hour), your overhead percentage (18%), and your desired profit margin (40%). BakeOnyx calculates the final price: $19.82. The customer sees $19.82 on the form before they hit 'Order.'
Customer Fills Out the Form and Submits Payment
A customer clicks your order link on Instagram. They see your form: cake size, flavor, filling, frosting color, delivery date, special requests. They pick 8-inch, vanilla, chocolate buttercream, white fondant, June 15th, and add a note: 'Bride's name is Sarah. Groom's name is Mike.' They enter their name, phone, email, and delivery address. They see the price: $19.82. They pay with a credit card or PayPal. The order is confirmed. They get an email receipt with all their details and a production date (you bake on June 13th).
Order Lands in Your Dashboard and Syncs to Your Calendar
The order pops into your BakeOnyx dashboard under 'New Orders.' You see Sarah and Mike's cake—8-inch, vanilla, chocolate buttercream, white fondant, due June 15th. The ingredient costs ($8.47), labor estimate (1.5 hours at $15/hour = $22.50), and total profit ($19.82 - $8.47 - $22.50 = -$11.15) are all calculated. You notice you're losing money on this order because your labor estimate is too high. You adjust it to 1 hour ($15). Now you're making $4.35 profit. The order also syncs to your production calendar. June 13th now shows: '1 x 8-inch vanilla cake, chocolate buttercream, white fondant (Sarah & Mike wedding).' Your staff sees it when they clock in on June 13th.
Check Availability Before the Customer Orders
You've told BakeOnyx you can bake a maximum of 4 custom cakes per day. June 15th already has 3 orders booked. When the next customer tries to order for June 15th, they see 'This date is full. Available dates: June 16-17.' They pick June 16th instead. You never overbook. You never have to send an email saying 'Sorry, that date is booked.' The form handles it automatically.
Answer Last-Minute Phone Orders in 45 Seconds
A customer calls on Thursday asking if you can do a 9-inch round with lemon cake and raspberry filling for Saturday delivery (2 days). You're mid-batch, hands in dough. You open your BakeOnyx dashboard on your iPad, click 'Manual Order,' and select the same options the form would show: 9-inch, lemon, raspberry filling. You see the price ($24.50), check your calendar (Saturday is open), and tell the customer 'Yes, $24.50, delivery Saturday.' You type in their name and phone number. The order is saved. No email to send later. No spreadsheet to update. The customer gets a text confirmation with their order details and a payment link.
Ready to Transform Your Bakery?
Join hundreds of baking businesses using BakeOnyx to manage orders, recipes, inventory, and more. Start your free trial today — no credit card required.
Benefits
Stop Losing Orders to Slow Email Responses
Every minute a customer waits for a price quote is a minute they're shopping competitors. With an online form, they get a price in 10 seconds. No back-and-forth. No 'I'll email you tomorrow.' A customer who sees a price and can order immediately is 3x more likely to complete the order than a customer who has to wait for you to check your spreadsheet and email back.
Answer 30 order inquiries in June without sending a single email
Price Every Order Correctly, Every Time
You've been undercharging for years because you guesstimated labor time or forgot to include fondant waste. BakeOnyx calculates ingredient cost to the gram, adds your labor rate and overhead, and applies your profit margin. A 6-inch cake with fondant now costs $6.32 in ingredients, 45 minutes labor ($11.25), and overhead ($3.20), totaling $20.77 before profit. You know exactly what you're making on every order. No more $15 cakes that should be $25.
Know your exact cost per cake in 45 seconds, not 10 minutes of calculator work
Never Overbake or Underbake Again
Your form shows real-time availability. You set a cap of 4 custom cakes per day because that's what your oven and your hands can handle. Once 4 orders are booked for a date, the form closes that date. No more Saturday mornings realizing you've promised 6 cakes and your oven fits 4. No more rushing. No more burning ganache because you're stressed.
Eliminate overbooking by capping daily orders at your actual capacity
Get All Order Details Before You Start Baking
A customer's special request—'no nuts, daughter is allergic'—shows up in your dashboard and on your production sheet. You don't find out on delivery day that you used almond flour. Every detail syncs from the form to your calendar to your production notes. Your staff sees it the moment they clock in.
Reduce order mistakes by 100% because all details are written down before you touch a bowl
Free Up 3 Hours Every Sunday Night
You used to spend Sunday evening pricing next week's orders, updating your spreadsheet, and emailing customers quotes. Now, orders come in throughout the week with prices already calculated. Your Sunday night is free. You spend it prepping mise en place, not spreadsheets.
Save 3 hours per week on order admin and pricing
Track Payment Status Without Chasing Customers
When a customer orders online and pays immediately, you know the order is confirmed and paid. No more 'Did they pay?' emails. No more invoices sitting unpaid for 30 days. Orders that come through your form are paid upfront. Your cash flow is cleaner.
Collect 100% of deposits before you buy ingredients for online orders
Related Features
Recipe Costing
Your recipes feed directly into your order form—when a customer picks vanilla cake, BakeOnyx pulls the exact ingredient cost from your recipe and calculates the price in real time.
Order Management
Every online order lands in your dashboard, synced with status updates—confirmed, in production, ready for delivery, delivered—so you track every order from inquiry to cash.
Production Scheduling
Online orders sync to your production calendar automatically. Your team sees what needs to bake on what day the moment they clock in, no separate to-do list needed.
Invoicing
Online orders generate invoices automatically. Payment is collected upfront through the form, but you can still send a formal invoice for your records and the customer's receipt.
Inventory Tracking
When an online order is placed, BakeOnyx deducts ingredients from your inventory. If you don't have enough fondant for Thursday's orders, you get an alert Wednesday to reorder.
AI Bake Buddy
Ask 'What do I need to prep for Thursday?' and AI Bake Buddy tells you exactly what, based on your confirmed online orders, not a generic list.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to Transform Your Bakery?
Join hundreds of baking businesses using BakeOnyx to manage orders, recipes, inventory, and more. Start your free trial today — no credit card required.
Free 14-day trial. No credit card required. Plans from $29/month.